The Nothing Man: The No. 1 bestseller. A brilliantly twisty blend of true crime and psychological thriller

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The last Catherine Ryan Howard book I read was Run Time and it was a book about a movie script that contains a book. This one is a book that contains a book. I don't know how she does it but Catherine Ryan Howard can seamlessly weave two stories at the same time without confusing the reader. This one is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach but please know there is no gratuitous sex or violence, it is there only for the story. Well Hot, clever, Diggity, brilliant DANG this one is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time! Don't miss out on this well crafted, exciting thrill of a chill read!

A serial killer. His surviving victim. A book within a book. A game of cat and mouse. Some surprising twists and turns. This is all I am going to say about the plot. It’s best to GO IN BLIND! Bastian is then drawn in Fantasia (which is reduced to a single grain of sand) by the Childlike Empress, who gives him the wish-granting AURYN so that he could wish Fantasia anew. In the movie, a single wish is enough to recreate all of Fantasia, while in the novel, it marks the second half of the story, which would set the basis of the film's sequel. Reading the chapters of memoir was like watching true crime stories and meeting with the real victims’ life experiences and witnessing Eve’s investigation and her corporation with ex-Garda officer Ed, how she gets closer to find the identity of the man. Let me tell you that The Nothing Man is nothing short of amazing. Wow, what a captivating story this was from start The Nothing Man is currently available on the Hoopla library app in both the e-book and audiobook formats.For nearly 2 decade, he disappeared and after two decades later, Eve releases her memoir about becoming survivor and the clues she’d found about the identity of the man who ruined her life and took her family from it. Nothing Man asks his victims: “Do you want to play game?” And now Eve is all in! She is not only going to play a life-death game with him, she’s also going to avenge her loved ones and give him the punishment he deserves! Soon he begins to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won’t give up until she finds him and that has no choice but to stop her first … I. Was. Hooked. On. Every. Word. I love the way the author told the story alternating between chapters from Jim's p.o.v and then would switch to Eve's book as Jim was reading along. Clever, suspenseful, and wholly satisfying. This is one book that is not to be missed! 5 stars!

Oh boy, The Nothing Man is nothing like I thought it would be— and that is a testament to Catherine Ryan Howard’s superb writing. The characters are also deeply drawn, the insights into the family’s anguish was palpable through their stories and their sense of loss unmistakable. The author gives us very real insights into the minds and trauma of victims from murder and rape. However, Howard did well to not stop there, as we are led into the mind of the serial killer, who continues to lead a normal life, their crimes oblivious to their families and their identity unknown. Their evil deeds meticulously planned, many serial killers give ‘nothing’ away. So Eve’s strategy to unmask this serial killer is simple; appeal to his ego or insult it!!! Pitting the current obsession with the true-crime genre against a more traditional psychological suspense is the genius at the heart of the novel. Well-paced and intelligent, a painstakingly crafted thriller that deserves to be a huge hit. * Irish Independent * Ryan Howard’s characterisation of Jim, and of Eve through her writing is powerful stuff. Jim is a misogynist, powerful once as The Nothing Man before he stopped killing and now he’s trapped in a powerless life. Unfortunately, the Nothing catches up with Atreyu and Falkor, and all that is left of Fantasia is the Ivory Tower, the Childlike Empress' palace. Atreyu meets the Childlike Empress and learns that the human boy who can give her a new name was with him all along, having connected through Fantasia by reading his adventure. A boy who is none other than Bastian himself. Bastian names the Childlike Empress Moon Child (a name related to his own late mother) and dispels the Nothing for good, just before it could erase Atreyu, Falkor and the Childlike Empress.

Customer reviews

Catherine Ryan Howard is now an auto request author for me, and I am glad that I have two of her earlier suspense books to catch up on, “The Liar’s Girl” and “Distress Signals” while I wait for what’s next! It took me a little bit to get into The Nothing Man, but once it got going, wow! I couldn't stop reading, and as the tension built and built, I was terrified, jumpy and obsessed! My husband says that I've not stopped talking about it, and I just cant help it! This book consumed me, and by the end I could barely breath! The book is written by Eve who was the only survivor twenty years ago when her family was murdered by the serial killer known as The Nothing Man. He earned that name because the police had nothing on him. She’s written this book in an attempt to find him. Why is Jim so thrown off to see the book? Because he was The Nothing Man. Does Eve know? Is there a chance they are on to him? After a lifetime of reading mystery novels and psychological thrillers, the stories begin to blend into each other if there isn’t something that makes it particularly memorable. But Catherine Ryan Howard has done something unique with The Nothing Man to not only make it stand it out but—like how Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl brought about slews of multiple-narrator thrillers—also likely find it imitated often in the years to come. I have read books within a book before however, Catherine Ryan Howard uniquely weaves in a true-crime memoir about The Nothing Man who has disappeared after killing her family while the nothing man-killer Jim is reading it. The story brilliantly alternates between passages from Eve's book and Jim's reaction to them. I found it fascinating to see Jim's reaction to the memoir while he is reading it and it makes for an exciting and interesting twist to the story.